Falling Through Time
by Loopytoo
Summary: Many strange things have happened to Commander Vimes, but a young girl has had just one strange experience that can trump them all and it may do just that. Rewritten after about a year. T for attempted suicide. ABANDONED
1. Chapter One: Images and Alleyways

Disclaimer: The only things I own about this story are the main character and the plot. All other characters and places in the story are copyright Terry Pratchett.

Late at night, during an ominous thunderstorm, a young teenager was lying awake in bed. Suddenly her blonde hair spread out as she convulsed violently, clutching her head. Images flowed across her mental screen and a scream of agony echoed through her mind. For the last year, the girl had gone through the same process every night: lying in wait for the scenes to play out in her mind, it wasn't as if they cared how much they hurt her. If she had tried to go to sleep, it would have been a wasted effort. She couldn't get to sleep at night without revisiting the images first, however not for lack of trying. It wouldn't have been so bad if it were only the images. However, the girl's mind felt as if it was inside the images, as if the were happening to her…and they were not nice.

This time, they were too much. The girl made her way to her bedroom door and ran from the house. When she reached the back garden, she clung to the washing line pole, waiting for lightening to strike, for it all to end. And it did…

…Some time later the girl woke in an alley. She stared at the sky groggily. Where was she? Now that she thought about it, who was she? Was 'she' even a 'she'? Nope. That one was definitely true: she was a girl, she was in an alley, and she had no name she could remember. She was sitting now, and looked blearily around her. Behind her was a large brick wall, several meters in front of her was the entrance to the alley. Stumbling slightly, the girl got up and made her way to the street outside. Her new surroundings told her she was in a rundown area of an old-fashioned city. There was nowhere to go; she didn't know where she was, who she was or why she was in that alley. So she wandered slowly along the street, gazing around her and taking in all the sights and abominable smells.

Eventually she reached a bridge and still having nowhere to go, decided to explore some more. She crossed over the murky chunky river to the other side. This seemed to be a posh estate as it was filled with expensive houses, though still old fashioned in design. The funny thing was, the girl had a good general knowledge of things, but she didn't remember any names or dates. The place reminded her of something called 'the middle ages'.

Now she had reached a courtyard, up ahead she could see guards in armour. The building they were milling around in the vicinity of looked like a...The phrase 'police station' popped into her mind. She shook her head. Police station didn't seem to match up with the middle ages. What did it remind her of? Before she could think anymore, her head exploded with pain, and images, sights, sounds, smells and feelings rushed into her mind. She was running, cold, there was the smell of pine, 'aargh!' blistering cold, wet, river, struggling, choking, drowning...And then she was back, with her head in her hands and tears running down her face. People around her were calling out and yelling. Some of the guards were holding back a small crowd that had gathered, from what she could see through her fingers.

Suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder. Only after its warmth and steadiness appeared did she notice she was shaking, violently. Another hand clasped around her other arm and pulled her upwards, but she couldn't stand. The dizziness wouldn't go away. Instead of making her try again, the person lifted her into their arms and carried her into the large building. The girl wasn't paying much attention to what was going on for a while after this. All she knew about the person who was carrying her was that they were a man.

Still in shock from the fit and her mysterious rescuer, her mind only focused slightly as she was set down in a wooden chair. The hardness of it compared to the warmth and gentleness of the man's arms brought her toward her sense, but not all the way. She looked up to see she was in an office now. There was a guard in front of her and a desk between them. The strong hand was on her shoulder again and she looked further up into the eyes of a redheaded young man. His limbs bulged 

from too many muscles and the girl realised it was he who had carried her in. The other guard coughed and she returned her gaze to him. He spoke slowly to the redheaded man, "Thank you Captain Carrot, now if you could just see to the gathering mob and get rid of the Times reports, that will be all." The captain left the room and the guard looked to the girl again; "Allow me to introduce myself," he said, more softly than before, "I am Commander Vimes. Now you know _my_ name, care to tell me yours?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I mean I don't know my name. I woke up in an alley and I don't remember anything."

"Well that is strange. However, waking up in an alley with memory loss is not an uncommon occurrence in this city. Are you sure you don't remember anything? No addresses? No names?"

"Nothing."

"Okay. So you woke up in an alley. Then what did you do?"

"I started to explore. I was trying to find something that might make me remember."

"So you ended up here and suddenly had a fit, is that correct?"

"No. Not really. It wasn't a fit, exactly. I saw all these images, but they were so real, I was _inside_ them. When I woke up, or came back, or whatever, I was shaking really bad." Her voice was hoarse and the Commander could read the tiredness on her face.

"Now that _is_ uncommon." Said Vimes, "Well, my suggestion is that you stay here at the watch house for a while. We have a spare room upstairs and we have a canteen so you can get foo-uh edible subst-and I'll bring you something to eat later."

"Thank you." The girl's voice was barely a whisper now and she was struggling to keep her eyes open, but she managed to stand and was lead up to the spare room by the commander. There was a mattress on the floor and upon seeing this she happily collapsed onto it, falling into a fitful slumber.

Now it was nine of the clock that evening and Sam Vimes was sitting in his living room at Ramkin Manor. Across from him, darning socks badly, was his wife, who was watching him closely. Aside from being the Duchess of Ankh, Lady Sybil had honed to perfection the skills needed to tell her something was bothering Sam. The cuckoo clock on the wall ticked slowly and then...

"What's _wrong_, Sam?"

"Wha-who-huh?"

"I think the elephant we fed to the dragons this morning is making them perky."

"Oh very funny. I was just thinking."

"Is it important?"

"A teenager turned up outside the watch house this afternoon. She doesn't know what city we're in and she hasn't got a clue who she is."

"A teenager? Where did you send her?"

"Send her? I didn't send her anywhere! She's asleep on the top floor of Pseudopolis Yard."

"_She's at the watch house?_"

"Uh, yes?"

"Sam! That is no place for a young girl!"

"Where else is she supposed to stay?"

"She could stay with us. We have plenty of room."

"With us? No. You'll be asking me to let Foul Old Ron and Coffin Henry stay next."

"No I won't," replied Sybil, her tone dropping faster than mercury in winter. She returned to her concerned wife/mother voice, "She's a teenage girl, lost and alone. She needs a family."

"She's probably got one! We just haven't found it yet." But Vimes knew he had lost. As soon as Sybil had suggested it he had lost. The girl would be staying with them, and that was that.

"So we have no idea who she is?"

"Not a clue. No missing children reported, no one from the school has complained."

"Hmm. We'll have to bring her here now though. I'll tell Wilikins to get the carriage ready."

And with that she hurried away, leaving the socks forgotten on a chair. Shortly afterwards the pet dragon of the month picked them up in its mouth and began to chew on them.


	2. Chapter Two: Who am I?

Chapter 2: Who am I?

The following morning The Girl woke from a good night's sleep at Ramkin Manor. During the night she had been startled to wake in a moving carriage, but the familiar voice of the commander told her not to worry. She had been far too tired to. Now she woke again. This time she was in a comfortable bed with pure white sheets. The pillows were heavenly, The Girl was sure nothing could ever be that soft. But enough about the room, The Girl was still confused. Who was she and where was she? So far nobody had mentioned the city's name and her parents still hadn't come to pick her up. The Girl wondered if she had any. Perhaps she was an orphan? No, she remembered a family. Not any one in particular just that she'd had one. Why couldn't she even remember her own name? While she was puzzling over this, a smartly dressed woman entered the room carrying a fry-up breakfast. The woman smiled at her, put the tray on the bed and introduced herself as Sybil. The Girl nodded and sighed, "_God_, I wish I could remember _my_ name!"

Sybil laughed, "That is becoming a bit of a problem. Is there anything you'd like to be called?" The Girl though for a moment and shook her head.

"I can't remember what I like. I'm starting to wonder, though, these strange fits I'm having, could they be my past? I mean, there's a blonde girl in them and I have blonde hair. Wait!" she cried excitedly, "What colour are my eyes?"

"They're blue, dear."

"Hers were blue too!"

"Maybe they are your memories. Perhaps whatever made you forget is wearing off and you're remembering bits and pieces of your life."

"Hold on," said The Girl sadly, her face falling, "No, it couldn't have been me. The Girl dies at the end and I'm still alive."

"Maybe you're remembering things but your mind twists them. Like a really bad dream."

"They feel sort of like things that were supposed to happen. Or things that haven't happened yet."

"Well, never mind them for now." Sybil told her, "Eat some breakfast and I'll find you some old clothes of mine." The Girl had completely forgotten about this part. She had been wearing an unusual pair of pyjamas and some fluffy bunny slippers since she had found herself in the alley.

Breakfast was delicious and left her feeling warm and happy inside. This was no contrast to the clothes which were, miraculously, just her size. They were a posh baby blue gown with some white lace around the bottom, white woollen tights and some blue versions of the shoes more commonly associated with Sunday school: another useless fact that The Girl had remembered.

There was something about the dress, to The Girl, it felt like home. It felt, if this made sense, like repition; like something that had happened a million times before. It _felt_ like something that would make her remember. As if in answer, she dropped to the floor. Fate loves when life is predictable.

The images were different; there was a castle this time. She was happily staring at herself in the mirror and wearing a pretty green dress. Hmm, green, that was unexpected. But the memories had still come. They seemed to have happened before the river incident because she was now being led by another girl and she, another boy and a dog were headed outside. Yes, there it was: the raging mass of turquoise liquid ready to bring about her untimely end. It wound through the trees ahead with a deafening roar, and then the memories continued on like normal. She woke with a horrible sick feeling in her stomach; that can happen when you die a lot.

After a second memory rush, Sybil had insisted The Girl stay in bed for a while. But she was restless now, and didn't want to lie there waiting to faint. So she got up, still in the dress, and found her way downstairs. Sybil had been heading for the door carrying a baby and a blackened basket that was making some very strange noises.

"Oh," she said when she saw The Girl, "I wasn't expecting you to be up yet. I have to go and give a talk about swamp dragons at the school." She gestured awkwardly towards the basket with her baby-filled arm. "Well, I suppose you have a choice. You can come with me," The Girl didn't like this idea, the thought of another memory rush made her stomach churn. "Or, you could stay here. However, I really don't find the idea of leaving you home alone very appealing. Unless...unless you want to go see Sam. I think I'll be about an hour. It's up to you." The Girl really had to think about this one. She was sure if she pleaded enough Sybil would let her stay in the Manor, however, she was far to restless to stay in bed and, if she did collapse, there would be nobody around to place her on a handy bed. Which left the school or the watch house...well, she sure she couldn't have too many memories at the watch house. To Mr. Vimes it was. And with Sybil arranging things there would be no chance of him sending her away.


	3. Chapter Three: The Watch House

Chapter 3: The Watch House

**Author's Note: This will be a short chapter due to the length of chapter four. And to Roruna, I think this chapter will confirm your suspicion. My thanks go to you and Buxton3 for alerting, and to Buxton3 again for faving.**

Sybil insisted on taking The Girl to the Watch House by carriage on the way to the school, so they arrived in no time. However, she was dropped at the door as Sybil was soon to be running late if she didn't hurry. Delaying as much as possible, the girl watched as the carriage took off down the street in a cloud of dust (in Ankh-Morpork this was by no means an indication of speed). Eventually it disappeared over a rise and The Girl was forced to face the building in front of her.

She stared at it for a while, and then shyly took a few steps towards it. Realising she was being ridiculous The Girl took a deep breath and strode forward more confidently. Once through the door, she was gladdened to see the familiar face of Captain Carrot sitting at the front desk. He raised his head as she approached and gave her a friendly smile when he recognized her.

"What can I do for you, Miss?" he asked her,

"I've come to see Mister Vimes, Lady Sybil sent me."

"Okay then. If you'll just give me a moment I'll take you up if you like."

The girl didn't remember there being stairs on her last visit up there, but it was definitely the same office. The commander sat at his desk staring confusedly at a pile of paperwork.

Vimes looked up and nodded at the newcomers to his dreary office. Standing in the doorway was Captain Carrot and in front of him with his hands on her shoulders, was the young girl.

Vimes watched carefully as she gulped and started to speak, his coppers mind was still in full gear from an earlier patrol.

"Hi, um, er…" Vimes had learned this was the standard greeting for authority figures among teenagers. In what was probably the longest sentence he'd ever heard from someone who wasn't Vetinari or a wizard, the girl explained her story.

"Lady Sybil, um, er…I'm supposed to stay here, er, um…if you could look after…um, Lady Sybil had to go out, and I'm er, supposed to, er, stay here. She also thought, maybe, er…if you could…it's been kind of weird without a…um, name."

"Well," said Vimes, catching himself before he could say 'er', "you _can _stay here. But as for a name, I've never been very good at them. However, I'm sure someone is bound to say 'You know what you really look like a…' and you'll have found yourself one."

The Girl wasn't so sure about this but she nodded anyway. Then the commander spoke again, this time to Captain Carrot, "Carrot are you…?"

"I'm on office duty all day, Sir. I'll just be sitting at the front desk."

The Commander looked back at The Girl slightly apologetically, "Unfortunately if I let you stay _right_ here then I'll only use you as an excuse not to do this paperwork. Do you mind staying with Captain Carrot?"

Still in authority figure mode the girl nodded, then thought over the question again and shook her head. The Commander smiled at her and then Captain Carrot lead her out of the office again and back down the stairs.

The time passed, unfortunately, very quickly. At first, The Girl sat on a stool in shy silence, but after a while, she was coaxed into conversation by Carrot's friendly questioning.

After a burst of laughter the girl looked at the clock on the wall and her face fell a hour was nearly up.

Captain Carrot noticed the change in expression immediately and could already tell what it was about, "How long was Lady Sybil going to be out?"

"An hour."

"Hold on, wasn't there something else she wanted?"

"Oh yeah," sighed The Girl, "she said it was a bit strange having nothing to call me by. She wanted Mister Vimes to sort it out. They really believe they'll find my family don't they?"

A look of shock spread across Carrot's face, "Of course we will! Somewhere out there I'm sure somebody misses you very much. We just have to look for them."

There was a thump as the Watch House door closed.

"Elsa?"

**Author's Note: Look out for Chapter 4: Soul Theory.**


	4. Chapter Four: Soul Theory

**Author's Note: This is a very long chapter but there was no good place to cut it. It will probably be the last one for a while, though as I'm working on my Bleach fan fiction and I'm also trying to figure out how to stop this one from having a Mary-Sue ending.**

Carrot and the girl looked up from their conversation to see a tall, blonde young woman staring at them.

"Hello, Angua!" Carrot smiled at the intruder. Angua rubbed her eyes.

"Sorry, my mistake," She mumbled quickly before hastening past them to the locker room. The Girl heard her muttering under her breath. Something along the lines of "Dead…idiot…must think you're mad…"

The girl returned her gaze to Carrot who was now wearing a rather worried expression. However, he quickly shook his head, and looked away from the door, resuming their conversation.

Lady Sybil's talk took longer than expected, but after the strange incident with Angua, the Girl didn't feel much like taking advantage of this. Truth be told, Elsa sounded like the perfect name for her, but going by Angua's mutterings it would be more than disrespectful to choose it.

When the duchess did arrive, it was minus the blackened basket. She did have the baby, though. Another friendly smile crossed Carrot's face when he saw her. The baby gurgled and waved a hand at him, expressing his fondest regards.

"Hello there, young Sam!" He said in an overly loud, cheerful voice, "Hello Sybil! Come to pick up this lovely young lady, I expect?"

"Hello Carrot," Sybil replied, "Yes I have. I need to go and talk to Sam first." She turned to the Girl, "Why don't you come with me, dear?"

Sybil, the Girl and Young Sam all appeared at Vimes's office door. While the Commander was busy with his paperwork, his wife played an age old trick on him. She placed Young Sam on the floor and he quickly toddled across it to see his Daddy. He began to hug his father's leg, and Vimes looked down. As soon as he saw his son he swept him into his arms and hugged him. A smile crept into Lady Sybil's features. In one simple move she had switched him from watchman to father and could now talk to him without the day's muggings interfering.

Vimes looked at his wife.

"Finished for the day, dear?"

Vimes looked at his paper work, and then he sighed and looked at the floor. Truth be told, he'd made barely a dent in the massive pile, even after sending the Girl away.

"Yeah I suppose so," he replied dismally.

"I just thought I'd ask seeing as I had the carriage."

Vimes stood up, holding a squirming young Sam, and made his way out of the office.

As they went down the stairs, the Girl watched as Mister Vimes flew Young Sam through the air. He was pretending to be a dragon. When they reached the bottom, the Girl felt an emotion, probably similar to envy. She didn't have time to ponder it however, as she soon collapsed, _again._

Vimes looked at the young girl on the bed. In every respect it was the same girl who'd collapsed in front of the Watch House, slept in his house, and today made friends with Captain Carrot, but now…

Well, first of all there was the strange silvery glow now surrounding her, and there was also…

Vimes didn't even know what to call it. It was as if every few moments she would flicker, and look almost the same, but there would be a difference her couldn't place.

Anyway, Vimes recognized magic when he saw it. Now he groaned, he hated wizards, but they were the only ones who could solve a problem like this. So he sent Carrot down to the university to fetch one.

As he was thinking about just how much he _really_ hated wizards, Carrot burst through the door panting, and announced that one would be arriving soon. As if on cue, a wizard did pop into existence in the middle of the room.

Vimes sighed as Carrot told him some things his rather confused brain totally ignored. He nodded to the wizard, and watched as he examined the Girl closely.

"Oh," said the Wizard.

"You don't know what's happening?"

"Oh no, I've just never _seen_ it happen before."

Vimes was getting agitated, "Seen _what_ happen?"

"Well," started the Wizard rather shakily, "in theory, um, well…everybody has a soul right?" Vimes nodded, and then thought of Nobby Nobbs.

"Well, in theory, when somebody dies, their soul can go wherever it likes depending on what you believe in. This is an example of reincarnation gone wrong." Now that he'd gotten into it the Wizard was gaining confidence and even looked rather excited, "Usually a reincarnated soul goes into the body of a fetus that doesn't have one of its own yet. But theoretically it can go into any body; in this case the soul has gone into one belonging to a young girl."

"So those memories she's been having, none of them were hers?" asked Carrot, arranging Vimes's thoughts nicely for him.

"No. Going by the theories we've come up with, the two souls are both fighting for dominance. Judging by the fact she's now unconscious, I'd say she doesn't have much time left. The body will be exhausted."

"Are you saying she's going to die?" the worried look on Carrot's face was evident on both Vimes and Lady Sybil's faces as well.

"The poor dear," murmured the duchess sadly.

Vimes wasn't having it, "_Not_ on _my_ watch she isn't," he growled standing up, "You're going to find a way to fix her, or you're going to find me someone who can, now!"

"Couldn't we just remove the other soul?" supplied Carrot.

The wizard sighed and shook his head, "I'm sorry Captain, I'm afraid you're getting into Igor business there."

"How fortunate," muttered Vimes.

The wizard looked over the girl once again, "That's strange…" he murmured, and Vimes followed his gaze to a large red welt on the girl's neck.

"What is that?" Carrot asked.

"It's a mark usually found on people who've been struck by lightning. But…aha! That explains everything! Why she suddenly appeared here and why she doesn't remember who she is. Do you remember a few years ago, Sir Samuel, when you were sent into the past?"

Vimes grunted in answer. It was one of his less treasured memories owing to the fact that several people he knew to be dead had made attempts on his life.

"She has been living in another world, sharing her body with this soul, until one day she gets struck by lightning. The other soul momentarily gains control and locks onto this world, the world where _it_ belongs."

Carrot immediately grasped the concept but it took Vimes longer. Once he understood he asked, "Wait…are you seriously telling me, _she has the soul of a dead person inside her_?"

"Technically…yes." confirmed the wizard.

"And if we don't do anything we'll lose both of them?"

"Yes," said the wizard, solemnly.

"What I'd like to know," Carrot wondered aloud, "Is who the other soul belongs to. I'm guessing they probably look the same, because The Girl thought the memories belonged to her. If she looked different she would have realized they didn't." His thoughts soon arrived at the strange event with Angua earlier that day. "Excuse me Mister Wizard, does the soul have to be one who died recently."  
"Well, considering we don't actually know how long it takes to cross over, I'd say not."

Carrot looked at Vimes, "If it's all right with you, Sir, I'd like to go and have a quick word with Angua."

Vimes nodded and waved him away, then as an afterthought said, "But come back with Igor, you hear?"


End file.
